Chapter 312: Picking Faults, Not Benefits

Chapter 312: Picking Faults, Not Benefits

The extremely professional-sounding chatter left Deya somewhat speechless. Anyway, the Saintess—or rather, the big sister—had been here many times. Zheng Yichen now knew her quite well. She might be serious during battles, and though she usually carried the danger of a power ful person, she seemed a bit lacking in social interactions—unless you were intimidated by her status.

You could have a conversation like this, provided you had a real reason. As for trying to fool her, Dan Marina had warned him before: it’s best not to have any thoughts of fooling her. At their level of strength, ‘sixth sense’ was very sharp. If it was some malicious deception or something, if the strength gap was too big, it was easy to be discovered, even if the other person seemed a bit foolish.

Well, Zheng Yichen had somewhat understood then why Dan Marina’s words always worked so well when facing Annie, but when he tried it himself, he was easily countered. It wasn’t that it couldn’t be done, but the other person sensed something was off. To avoid such a situation, it was simple: just tell the truth!

Now, with Dan Marina’s pointers, Zheng Yichen could largely avoid it. Everything she said now was the truth. Could the matter of the magic potion be handled carelessly? No. Did Zheng Yichen care about the subsequent experimental results? Not at all… There were already specific test results long ago, so why bother?

Zheng Yichen had said that considering the extremely small chance he might have missed something, if there was, he wouldn’t mind making concessions to some extent. His own improvement was far greater than monetary gains. As for the current test, he was cooperating with Annie. Annie had plenty of live resources; all sorts of tests, big and small, could be conducted.

She was also very interested in this never-before-seen magic potion Zheng Yichen had made. Occasionally, Zheng Yichen had secretly checked Annie’s shopping cart. For something like Fixation Potion alone, she had over twenty bottles stored in her cart.

“No need to worry. This magic potion was developed based on the formula you provided, and the sales rights are in your hands. I won’t make changes without permission, but I want a thirty percent share… Oh, you might not think it’s much, but if anyone asks, just say this: for the magic potion sales I previously cooperated with the Purple Vine Guild, the profit distribution was also thirty percent. Of course, if you don’t plan to sell it and just use it yourselves, then pretend I didn’t say any of this.”

At first, Deya didn’t understand why Zheng Yichen said this. Only after she brought the results back to the Sanctuary Church headquarters did she realize just how big this thirty percent share was. When she first mentioned it, most people directly opposed it—thirty percent was really too much!

But after Deya told them about Zheng Yichen’s cooperation with the Purple Vine Guild, the people discussing the profit distribution for this magic potion couldn’t help but reconsider. The Purple Vine Guild really invested heavily to tie down such a special talent. Whether low-end or high-end potions, Zheng Yichen only provided one… No, even for potions he uniquely researched, he could take such a high profit share. Wasn’t this a huge investment?

Now they had to consider additionally: if they lowered this share, who would he choose first for any new potions he might develop in the future? Moreover, the Body Purification Potion Deya brought back, though it didn’t have the universal uses of the Purification Potion, had great long-term benefits!

A sufficiently pure physique really made everything go smoothly.

“The matter of profit distribution can be discussed later. Right now, the main focus is testing this never-before-seen magic potion.”

Purifying physique? There were many things in this world that could do that, like the Water of Life. But nothing like what Zheng Yichen described for this potion existed: its maximum effect could purify the physique to the state of a newborn baby.

Keeping it for personal use… Well, the Sanctuary Church wasn’t without such considerations. But just using it themselves would be too wasteful. To achieve the level Zheng Yichen mentioned required long-term use of such potions. It was like how families trained their heirs: from a very young age, they used all sorts of rare treasures, foundation-building medicinal baths, and so on.

Everything was best used the first time. The Body Purification Potion was the same. After reaching a certain level, ten bottles couldn’t match the effect of the first bottle. Moreover, the cost of this potion was mid-tier, unlike some top-tier potions that were hard to produce even in a year or two. Whoever had them kept them privately, never thinking of selling. Mid-tier potions were sold quite casually.

They didn’t need large-scale sales. Just produce enough for themselves, and sell the extra. It was a special potion unique to them; selling it could also have a promotional effect. An organization with such a special potion was itself proof of strength.

Don’t be surprised. An organization as big as the Sanctuary Church naturally had guilds and such to accumulate wealth. With the Sanctuary Church’s reputation, their guild’s business dealings would only go more smoothly. Their fame itself was a label of sufficient guarantee and strength, like leading big brands on Earth. When this brand was mentioned, people couldn’t help but say how amazing it was, and that choosing it was definitely right.

The Sanctuary Church worked very efficiently. Deya brought back five bottles of Body Purification Potion, enough for their testing. The test results matched exactly what Zheng Yichen said. Not only that, they discovered something else: parts of the body that were hidden injuries also counted as ‘impurities.’ Though the purifying effect wasn’t as good as for normal accumulated impurities, this meant it could also work on aftereffects from magic training.

“It’s incredible! Though it has no effect on magic power, its purification of the body surpasses the repair effects of some high-end magic potions!” a magic pharmacist in the Sanctuary Church exclaimed in amazement. The more tests he conducted, the more astonished he became.

“All hidden injuries?” a person in charge of this matter asked. If so, that would really be amazing.

“Of course not!” the magic pharmacist couldn’t help but roll his eyes. “Didn’t I say it? This potion has no effect on magic power, so hidden injuries caused by magic won’t be cleared. But all hidden injuries accumulated on the physical level are effective.”

Seeing the person in charge still confused, the magic pharmacist’s mouth twitched slightly, and he continued explaining. Hidden injuries from magic were mostly residues of overly intense mana in the body. Because that power carried strong traces of the attacker, they were extremely hard to eliminate.

This potion was useless against magic power, so it had no effect on such damage. But for the physical level, its effect was great. For example, if someone was injured too severely, leading to some irreversible ‘pathological change’ after recovery—like scars. Hidden injuries were deeper ‘scars.’ They could heal after injury, but because of the nature of scars, even after healing, traces remained. These were hidden injuries.

And the ‘scars’ deep in the body were also judged as ‘body impurities’ by the Body Purification Potion!

“I see… Perhaps we can start from this aspect.” After hearing the magic pharmacist’s explanation, the person in charge pondered thoughtfully.

“Don’t think about that.” Before the person in charge finished thinking, the magic pharmacist cut him off. “That possibility, the other party probably already knew. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have said the best purifying effect was to restore the physique to the purity of infancy.”

“…” The person in charge couldn’t help but glance at the magic pharmacist again. If that was the case, why were you so excited with your chatter earlier? He thought it was some new discovery. “No new discovery?”

“There is. This potion is also useful for some high-rank powerful Professionals.” Speaking of this, the magic pharmacist sighed with emotion. “If not for researching this, we might not have easily discovered some issues. It turns out high-rank Professionals’ physiques aren’t pure either. They only appear pure because their physiques are far higher than ordinary Ranked Practitioners, making the impurity parts seem fewer.”

“So you’re saying its value is higher than its actual tier?” The person in charge couldn’t help but widen his eyes. This thing was given to you for research to pick faults, find shortcomings to prepare for better negotiations later. The Sanctuary Church provided so many materials for Zheng Yichen’s research; the profit share definitely couldn’t be as fierce as the Purple Vine Guild’s. At the very least, they had to push it down by one-tenth. But now, no matter how they researched, it was all benefits. Listening, he couldn’t help but have the thought: ‘Lowering the price seems too much; maybe we should raise it instead.’

“Extremely high cost-performance.” The magic pharmacist praised without reserve. “You’re not in this field, so you might not understand. A sufficiently pure physique isn’t just about cultivation or meeting standards for certain training. A sufficiently pure physique also means the body won’t be affected or dragged down by accumulated impurities, leading to a longer life!”

“…”

Finally, the person in charge left the magic pharmacist’s Workshop with a face that said ‘What the heck.’ When leaving, he couldn’t even take the remaining one and a half bottles of Body Purification Potion he intended to take; the magic pharmacist kept them all. What happened to picking faults as agreed? Instead, you picked all the benefits!

Not to mention indirectly improving one’s own aptitude, or affecting physical-level hidden injuries, but at the last moment, you actually said this thing could increase lifespan?!

When the person in charge left, he not only had thoughts of ‘What the heck’ but also couldn’t help wondering if they really should increase the profit share proportion… From his own position, raising the price was impossible, but with such unique effects, keeping the original price didn’t seem unacceptable either?

Eh! No! Realizing he had thoughts he shouldn’t, the person in charge almost slapped himself. It was all that magic pharmacist’s fault! Why mention so many benefits? Better not to have listened. Listening too much was like being brainwashed. He worried about how to formulate the negotiation plan later. If Zheng Yichen didn’t know any of this, it would be fine. But he feared the other party knew…

If they knew, and this matter wasn’t handled well, it might not affect cooperation for now—the other party would still research. But in the long term, after such an unpleasant experience, the other party would definitely have reservations when researching magic potion formulas belonging to the Sanctuary Church in the future. With reservations, they wouldn’t research wholeheartedly, nor would they take it as a main research goal.

That magic pharmacist with special talent was related to Witches and also had profit ties with the Purple Vine Guild. The other party wouldn’t be unable to continue just because they lacked resource support from the Sanctuary Church.

If things really developed as he feared, the one to bear the blame would still be him. He thought it was something easily resolved, but now it seemed anything but simple. No wonder the elders discussing this earlier didn’t compete much and let him get the responsibility for this matter.

A bunch of cunning old guys! They must have seen the operational difficulty in advance and thus didn’t compete. Otherwise, with their established foundations, how could a group of them not outcompete him? Initially, he thought those old guys were restrained by each other and couldn’t act, letting him get a bargain. Before leaving the magic pharmacist’s Workshop, he was secretly happy about his good luck… But this was clearly setting up a newcomer!

So, afterward, should they lower the profit share or not? If not handled well, either one side would be overjoyed while he bore the responsibility—even if there weren’t major consequences, many things obviously wouldn’t involve him in the future. Or both sides would be unhappy: Zheng Yichen would have reservations and not produce good stuff anymore; the Sanctuary Church would investigate the cause later, and the responsibility would still fall on him.

“The person in charge of this at the Sanctuary Church is probably pulling their hair out now.” In the beach space of the underground area, Dan Marina lay beside Zheng Yichen, wearing sunglasses and looking at the blue sky with a grin.

At that time, when Zheng Yichen and Deya conversed, several Witches listened in the whole time. They were clear about the entire process. Zheng Yichen’s wording itself was very misleading. Regarding the potion’s effects, by the fifth day of research, all testable effects had been tested.

If he had directly stated this back then, the Sanctuary Church wouldn’t have invested much effort in subsequent tests. But he just said that one sentence… Well, even if it didn’t greatly affect the Sanctuary Church, it could annoy them a little. The reason for doing this?

It wouldn’t bring any impact on himself. Given there was conflict already, why not do it if you could? It wouldn’t be discovered anyway.

“That’s their business. Also, I’m not as shady as you. Mainly, I’m using this to test the Sanctuary Church’s cooperation attitude.” Zheng Yichen took a big sip of his drink. Not to mention the thirty percent profit distribution—as the provider of research materials, even if they pressed the share down by half, Zheng Yichen could accept it. Materials were easy to obtain; a complete formula was a matter of huge profits with little investment…